The modern trend for air conditioning buses used in transportation is to locate air conditioner modules on the roof of the bus. Each air conditioner module typically includes at least one microcomputer used to supervise and control the functions of the air conditioning module. The microcomputer runs a computer program generally installed at the time of air conditioner module production.
Another trend in microcomputer based apparatus is periodic revision of the microcomputer software in a post production environment. The software update might be performed to correct a flaw in the software, to adapt the microcomputer based apparatus to a new configuration, or simply to install the latest version of the appropriate code. Typically such updates are done from a personal computer via a cable connected from the personal computer to the microcomputer based apparatus.
In the case of bus roof top air conditioner modules, such manual connections for microcomputer re-programming can be problematic. Most importantly, there is some physical danger to the technician involving climbing to the roof and working at a significant height above a typically hard surface, such as a concrete bus garage floor. Time is also a factor since it is now common for larger buses to have four or more rooftop air conditioner modules and the microcomputer in each module needs to be updated. Another problem is that if a technician is distracted, it is possible that one or more of the rooftop modules is not updated and is left operating on a different version of the microcomputer code.
What is needed is a system and method to ensure that all microcomputers associated with bus rooftop air conditioner modules are programmed with the same software update without requiring a technician to climb on the bus rooftop.